Elsevier

Fluid Phase Equilibria

Volume 452, 25 November 2017, Pages 9-15
Fluid Phase Equilibria

Surface tension of four oxygenated fuels: experiment and correlation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fluid.2017.08.016Get rights and content

Abstract

In this work, a pendant drop apparatus was developed and tested by the surface tension measurement of toluene. Then, the surface tensions of 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate were measured in the temperature range from (303.15–393.15) K. The surface tension correlations were developed as a function of temperature with the experimental data, and the average absolute deviations were 0.041 mN m−1, 0.064 mN m−1, 0.041 mN m−1 and 0.052 mN m−1 for 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate, respectively.

Introduction

Modification of fuel composition through the use of additives can significantly reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel engines [1]. The idea of using oxygenated fuels as a means of producing cleaner diesel engines was introduced, and a large number of oxygenates in the form of ethers, esters and alcohols have been added to diesel fuels [2]. Furthermore, the oxygenated compounds in form of alcohol and ether have the advantage of high oxygen content, low greenhouse gas emissions and renewable biomass production and have been the common and readily available fuel additives [3].

After literature investigation and systematically evaluating some potential oxygenated agents' physical and chemical characteristics, 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate are considered promising candidates. For example, Li [4] found that Diethyl succinate was designed to blend with B5 palm oil biodiesel, and the ternary blend (B5 = 70.0%; 1-Octanol = 24.1%; Diethyl succinate = 5.9%) appear as the most promising green diesel blend owning to its greener emissions and similar fuel efficiency with B5. In addition, 2-Methoxyethanol was also used for producing pure hydrogen in a catalytic membrane reactor [5].

The thermophysical properties are indispensable for the increased applications of oxygenated additives. In our previous work, the liquid density [3] and thermal conductivity [6] of 2-Methoxyethyl acetate, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate were measured. Surface tension, as an important property influencing the heat transfer, flow and phase change characteristic, is useful for the calculation of combustion. The objective of this work is to obtain surface tension of 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate in the temperature range from (303.15–393.15) K and develop reliable models for the estimation.

Section snippets

Material

2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate were purchased from Aladdin Chemistry Co. Ltd., China. The fluid samples were used without any further treatment. Complete specification of chemical samples is listed in Table 1.

Pendant drop method

The pendant drop method is widely used for the surface tension or interfacial tension measurement. A more detailed description of the pendant drop method can be found in Ref. [7]. When a liquid pendant drop reaches hydrodynamic and

Toluene

In order to test the accuracy and reliability of the experimental system, surface tension of toluene was measured at the temperature range from 303.15 to 368.15K. In the experimental procedure, each droplet was taken six videos with appropriate interval in stable equilibrium state, and the values of surface tension were calculated from the videos. So the surface tension measurement was repeated at each set point temperature with six times, and the final value was the average of the six values

Conclusion

In this work, a new apparatus to measure the surface tension based on pendant drop method have been constructed and tested. The surface tension of 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethyl ether, 2-Ethylhexyl acetate and Diethyl succinate were investigated with pendant drop method in the temperature range from (303.15–393.15) K for which the surface tension data available in literature were scarce or even absent. On the basis of the present results, the equations of surface tension for four oxygenated

Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Specialized Research Fund for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51776171) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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